The present invention is concerned with stands, particularly stands for picture frames, and with picture frames as such.
There is a long standing need for picture frames which can stand upright on a desk, shelf etc. and which can be economically manufactured for a mass market. Frames of this general type exist.
One such mass produced picture frame has a perimeter frame, e.g. of wood with mitred comer joints or alternatively of plastics, a transparent front panel of plastics or glass, and a rear opaque panel typically of fibre board or plastics. The picture--be it a painting, photograph, print etc.--is sandwiched between the front and rear panels, which are themselves received in a recess formed around the rear of the perimeter frame and held in position typically by flexible metal tabs driven into the perimeter frame, which are bent into position against the rear panel. To enable the frame to stand upright, the rear panel has cuts or perforations pre-formed in it to define a leg which can be bent backwardly out of the plane of the panel. The cuts do not form a closed loop, so that the leg and the panel remain connected through a region of material which, being flexible, acts as a hinge. The frame can thus be rested on a horizontal surface, being upright but inclined somewhat backwardly with the leg serving to prevent it from falling backward.
An alternative construction uses a leg formed separately from the frame's rear panel but coupled thereto through a hinge.
While commercially successful, such frames are not without shortcomings. Their appearance is not appropriate in some contexts; the leg can sometimes fold inward allowing the frame to topple backward, and abuse can cause the material forming the hinge for the leg to fail.